Oh boy…
What Works: This film about, you guessed it, 47 masterless samurai is admirable in its old-fashioned attitudes. There are only occasional flights into fantasy, and I think the fanboys will be surprised (and disappointed) that there aren’t more battles with mutant monsters instead of sober scenes set in real history. [Of course, if you want a real examination of this time period, check out the excellent 2013 novel Child of Vengeance.] But all of this is a way of saying that this movie may be easier to admire than truly like or get into, and how much can you really admire a samurai quasi-fantasy when there are oscar-bait movies in theaters?
What Doesn’t Work: Even though the movie isn’t that long, I had a hard time staying interested, and might have dozed off during the 50th or so scene where a joyless samurai tells Keanu Reeves something somber. The ending is also a real letdown since the primary emotional investment we have in the movie is Reeves’ relationship with the beautiful daughter of a slain Lord.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Did the studio seriously spend 200 million on a samurai movie with only Keanu Reeves? Wouldn’t that be like spending 200 million on a western with only Johnny Depp? Well, I guess that’s why the box office returns are so similar.
Yep, they did spend that much money on the movie and thy have made 87 million worldwide thus far. Can u say “tax break”!